After Jess and I had been dating for a year we began to dream a semi-perfect future. We knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, because we’d been in the church long enough to know that’s false thinking. But still you dream and you put into place plans. One of my mentors in College told me to “Hold plans loosely,” which was wise advice especially in light of what happened to us next Continue reading
Between my sister and I, we’ve spent a total combined 15 years on the swim team. A lot of people find competitive swimming to be difficult because they see it like running underwater. Go as far as you would on your two feet on dry land but try to not breathe. When really swimming is all about the breathing. Making sure you let the air out when your head is in the water and that you quickly and efficiently raise your head for a millisecond to get air. You can get as strong as you want — but if you don’t learn how to breathe well in the water you’ll never get very far. Continue reading
I hoped that maybe as we drove across the Washington border to Oregon, all the stress of the last three months (packing and moving, niece being born, brother-in-laws wedding, starting grad school) would magically disappear. Somebody would use force heal like in Star Wars games and my healing points would go up 50 pts. Or I could visit the Hospital wing at Hogwarts and Madam Pompfrey would set me straight. (Hello Nerdy Nerds)! But none of that happened. Instead Continue reading